From the desk of ... Non-20/20 Univision?

SAN DIEGO -- As it turns 50, Univision still doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.

Is the nation's largest and most successful Spanish-language network a reputable news agency that does quality journalism and holds elected officials from both parties accountable? Or is it a Latino-flavored public relations firm that favors Democrats over Republicans?

Launched in 1962, the network has earned billions of dollars over the last few decades taking full advantage of the fact that the mainstream media largely overlook Latinos.

In addition to racking up profits, Univision does command a certain amount of respect. In fact, in this election year, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney made the pilgrimage to Miami to participate in network forums on issues that matter to Latinos.

Judging from the questions that were asked by co-moderators Maria Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos, it seems that no issue matters as much as immigration. Salinas and Ramos fired off some of the toughest questions that either Obama or Romney has faced on the issue in this election. Even right-wing radio talk show hosts were pleased and surprised at the grilling and compared it favorably to the kid-gloves treatment that Obama usually gets from much of the English-speaking media.

Yet if you watch the nightly newscast, and the Sunday morning public affairs show, "Al Punto" -- and I watch both -- it's impossible not to come away with the sense that the network is in the Obama camp. In fact, at times it seems like a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. That's why the grilling that Obama got at the Univision forum in Miami was so noteworthy -- because it was unexpected.

Univision obviously has capital and leverage. But what does it intend to do with it? What is the mission of the most dominant Spanish-language network in America?

On the one hand, the network caters to a specific niche -- Spanish-speaking adults in the United States, consisting mainly of recent immigrants and naturalized U.S. citizens. It controls 73 percent of that market.

On the other, it now wants to broaden that audience and go where the real money is: English, the language in which most Latinos -- particularly those in the heavily sought-after 18-34-year-old demographic -- get their news and entertainment. Univision is partnering with ABC News to launch a channel aimed at English-speaking Latinos, a group we're likely to hear much more from in the future. ?

The network also dabbles in advocacy. It likes to pretend that it defends illegal immigrants (although it prefers to call them "undocumented" immigrants) and even made a ruckus recently when it challenged The New York Times and other newspapers to stop using the term "illegal immigrant" in stories.

The Associated Press recently announced that it would continue using the term.

When it comes to its crusade to defend illegal immigrants, the network has shown time and again that it finds this easier to do when defending them from Republicans. It should also spend some time defending them from Democrats, who are in truth just as big an obstacle to finding a solution to our immigration woes. Republicans pander to nativists, but Democrats cater to organized labor and both these constituencies want fewer immigrants and more enforcement.

According to people familiar with Univision, the Spanish-language network desperately wants to be taken seriously by its English-language counterparts as a reputable organization that practices real journalism -- the kind that wins accolades, earns awards, and keeps in check public officials who abuse and neglect Latinos in the United States.

Yet it permits things that many of its counterparts would reject out of hand -- such as allowing the owner's wife to accept a post with the Obama administration. Obama recently appointed Cheryl Saban, the wife of billionaire Haim Saban, to be a U.S. representative to the United Nations despite her having no previous diplomatic experience.

The appointment is troubling. If Obama wins a second term, something that seems more possible after his strong performance in the final debate, let's see how tough Univision anchors are then. It's likely that the network bosses will rein them in.

Let's hope not. In any language, doing serious journalism isn't about making friends. It's about making waves.